Du Bois Digitization

The Du Bois Digitization Project is being conducted by the department of Special Collections and University Archives at the W. E. B. Du Bois Library, UMass Amherst. The entire manuscript collection of Du Bois papers (168.75 linear feet of correspondence, manuscripts, and ephemera) will be scanned and made available for free through an online repository to researchers and students of all ages around the world.

With the support of the Verizon Foundation our project was off the ground in the Spring of 2009. Jeremy Smith and I were hired in May 2009 to begin generating metadata records. One year later we have over 40,000 scans and 13,000 metadata records. The search interface to serve material from the Du Bois Digitization project is in the final stages of design development and will be programmed during 2010.

The library has recently been awarded a “We the People” grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the remainder of the anticipated $500k project budget. It will be a thrill to see the project take flight with the continued support from the UMass libraries, Du Bois Center, and organizations like the Verizon Foundation and NEH.

Digital Du Bois at
Special Collections and University Archives

Video:

W.E.B. Du Bois’s Papers to Be Digitized for Viewing Online
May 15, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch…

Press:

W.E.B. DuBois library’s archives go digital
September 7, 2010 http://dailycollegian.com/

A Du Bois Archive for the Future
Friends of the Du Bois Homesite
Summer 2010 http://www.duboishomesite.org/

NEH Awards Grant to Libraries
May 4, 2010 http://www.library.umass.edu/

Exhibit: “Digitizing Du Bois: One Year Later”
February 22, 2010 http://www.library.umass.edu/

Global Access for Du Bois Collection
February 16, 2010 http://www.umassmag.com/

The Secret Life of Books
February 16, 2010 http://www.umassmag.com/

UMass Amherst Libraries Hosts 16th Annual Du Bois Lecture
February 1, 2010 http://www.library.umass.edu/

Digital Advantage Improves Access To Works of W.E.B. DuBois
April 28, 2009 http://foundation.verizon.com/

On the W.E.B.
April 22, 2009 http://www.gazettenet.com/

Du Bois papers to be digitized
April 4, 2009 http://www.masslive.com/

UMass to post treasure trove of Du Bois documents online
April 4, 2009 http://www.boston.com/

Verizon grant to digitize Du Bois papers announced
April 3, 2009 http://www.library.umass.edu/